


and love grew after between them

by certain_as_the_sun



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 03:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10654242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/certain_as_the_sun/pseuds/certain_as_the_sun
Summary: In which Maglor adopts twins.





	and love grew after between them

The fighting was over, the Silmaril lost. All that remained was to burn the bodies and leave Sirion before Círdan arrived. The Fëanorians milled around their camp, packing up, preparing the funeral pyres.

Maedhros draped Amrod's braid over his throat. He had been stabbed there, and left to choke in his own blood. With the braid concealing the wound, the hair almost the same colour as the dried blood, Maedhros could almost imagine his little brother was asleep. He hadn't the same luxury with Amras. An arrow through the eye was hard to conceal. Maedhros's only comfort was that he had seen Maglor kill the archer responsible.

Speaking of Maglor, where was he? Would he miss their brothers' funerals?

Maedhros pushed himself to his feet. He turned away from the twins, who looked so small and young lying on the ground, and went in search of his only surviving brother.

 

* * *

 

The funerals were over. Dusk was closing in. With every passing minute Círdan and Gil-Galad's forces drew nearer. And there was no sign of Maglor. Terrible visions chased through Maedhros's head, of his brother cut down by a survivor of the Kinslaying, or captured by the approaching armies. Words could not describe his relief when he stormed into the tent he and Maglor shared to find his brother already there, unharmed. Rage quickly followed relief.

"Where have you _been_?" Maedhros roared. "Have you any idea how-"

"Be quiet," Maglor said sharply. "You'll wake them."

Maedhros opened his mouth. Then he closed it again. There was a pause. "Who are 'them'?"

Maglor gestured to their shared bed. Huddled under the covers were two small bodies. Resting on the pillow were two small heads. Maedhros stared.

"Are those Elwing's twins?"

"They were hiding in a servant's room. It took me hours to convince them I wasn't going to kill them, and even longer to make them come out. They kept asking for their mother. I sang them to sleep; it was the only way I could bring them here without causing a scene."

An hour ago Maedhros had expected a grim future with no hope of fulfilling the Oath. Now hope took root in his heart again. "Eärendil will return for his sons. When he does, we can demand the Silmaril in exchange for their safe return."

"Yes." Maglor didn't sound as hopeful as he did.

Maedhros glanced at him. Maglor stared at the twins. His hair covered his face, leaving Maedhros to guess what he could be thinking.

 

* * *

 

Maedhros woke to a child's sobs and an empty space beside him where Maglor should be. Panic seized him for the split second it took to realise one of the twins was crying, and Maglor was humming to it. Maedhros scowled. It wasn't enough the brats cried most of the day; now they had to cry at night too?

"I want Naneth!" the child whimpered.

"Hush, Elros," Maglor said gently. "I'm sure your mother will come for you very soon."

Elros continued to sob for some moments more. Maglor hummed snatches of an old lullaby Nerdanel had sung to them when they were as young as the twins. Maedhros lay still and listened with increasing disquiet. It sounded like Maglor was getting far too attached to their hostages. He shouldn't. It would only cause him pain when their parents arrived, Silmaril in hand, to reclaim them.

At last Elros fell asleep. Maglor lay down on the floor next to Maedhros again. Maedhros pulled him close and held him tightly.

"They aren't your children," he whispered, his mouth hovering over Maglor's ear.

"I know," Maglor replied, and turned to kiss him.

 

* * *

 

It took Maedhros a surprising length of time to realise the twins were afraid of him. They would fall silent when he entered the room - a good thing when they were having a pillow fight in the middle of the night, but not such a good thing when Maglor was quizzing them on their education. They would sit very still and follow him with their eyes, as if they expected him to attack at any moment. They would stay close to Maglor at mealtimes. Maedhros noticed all this, but didn't put two and two together until Maglor did it for him.

They lay, naked and pressed close to each other, in their bed one night. Maedhros was drifting off to sleep when Maglor propped himself up on his elbows and remarked, "You frighten the children."

"Hmm?" Maedhros blinked. "Why? I haven't spoken to them."

"That's the problem. They see you and think of you as something terrifying, and they don't know any better because you won't speak to them."

"I _do_ speak to them," Maedhros protested, feeling sleepy and irritated. Of all the post-sex conversations they could have had, they had to talk about Elwing's brats? "I tell them to eat their vegetables."

Maglor raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think that will make them think well of you?"

"Why do you care if they think well of us? They'll be leaving soon." As soon as Eärendil returned, Silmaril in hand.

His brother guessed his thoughts. "Nelyo... I don't think Eärendil will come for them. It's been a month. No reply from Círdan, no reply from Gil-Galad, no sign of Eärendil or the Silmaril. I don't know if they'll want to leave even if he does come. Elrond's started calling me Ada."

"You shouldn't let him." Maedhros's voice was cold. "Eärendil will come. No father would leave his children in the hands of Kinslayers."

Maglor was silent.

 

* * *

 

A new star rose on the horizon, and Maedhros's hopes shattered.

"Nelyo?" Maglor sounded more uncertain than he had since Doriath. "Is that-"

"Yes." The word left a bitter, metallic taste in his mouth. It was almost like the taste of blood. "That's the Silmaril."

 

* * *

 

The children took the news that their parents were not coming with remarkable calm. Elros seemed to have already forgotten he ever had a mother, and Maglor was the only father he knew. Elrond said nothing about it when he first heard.

"Our parents want a jewel instead of us?" he asked Maglor at dinner, several hours later. "Then," he said decidedly, "I don't want them. You're much nicer to us than they are, even if Uncle Maedhros is scary."

Maglor nodded gravely, but a smile played around his mouth. "Uncle Maedhros _can_ be scary, especially when he's angry. So why don't you learn your lessons and eat your vegetables, and then he won't be angry?"

Maedhros stared at his brother. "Please tell me you didn't just turn me into a way to make them obey you."

 

* * *

 

Months passed. It was frightening, how easily the twins fitted in to their lives. Maedhros got used to them running around the halls, and complaining about their lessons, and keeping Maglor up for hours with their demands for "just one more song, _please_ ". He refused to admit he was at all alarmed when Elros caught a cold - an unfortunate side-effect of his mortal ancestry, it seemed. Maedhros might have been mildly concerned, but he was certainly not alarmed.

His concern soon turned to exasperation. Maglor announced it wasn't safe for Elrond to remain with his twin and exiled Elrond to a room further down the hall. Elrond objected. Like clockwork he got out of bed every night and tried to sneak into Elros's sickroom. Like clockwork Maglor caught him and brought him back to his new room.

Maedhros listened to these nightly comings and goings with ever-decreasing patience. Finally he had enough. As Elrond crept past his door, he pulled it open and glared down at the frightened Elfling.

"For the love of- Get in here! You are _not_ going to disturb both our brothers again!"

 

Maedhros slept in his chair and gave Elrond the bed. The next morning he woke up to Elrond fast asleep in his lap and Maglor smirking at him.

"Does Uncle Maedhros want me to bring him breakfast lest he disturb his nephew?" Maglor asked in the teasing, sing-song voice he used when having a good laugh at one of his brothers' expense.

Maedhros threw the nearest item to hand - a rolled-up map of Beleriand - at him.

 

* * *

 

That night, or morning depending on how he looked at it, sounded the death knell of any fear the twins held for him. Elrond would follow him around and ask questions on everything from "how did you lose your hand?" to "why is the sky blue?" As soon as Elros recovered he decided Maedhros's height made him perfect for climbing. Maedhros went about his days answering some of his inquisitive shadow's questions, pretending not to notice the Elfling sitting on his shoulders or the giggles Maglor didn't even try to hide.

"Admit it," Maglor said one night, when the twins were in bed and - hopefully - sound asleep. "You love them as much as I do."

"They've made life more interesting," Maedhros said noncommittally. Maglor raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't matter if I love them. They'll have to leave as soon as they're old enough." Maglor raised the other eyebrow. "...I'll miss them when they leave."

Maglor accepted that as the best answer he'd get, and moved to kiss him. One kiss turned to another, then another. Maedhros's hand moved to reach under Maglor's nightclothes.

_Knock-knock-knock._

They froze.

"Ada?" What was Elros doing out of bed? Maedhros wondered if Maglor would be very angry if he locked the twins in their room at night. "Can you get my pillow for me?"

Maglor and Maedhros exchanged a look. It was a look they'd perfected after many long years of dealing with their brothers.

"Why do you _need_ me to get your pillow?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. "It... fell. Out the window."

Maglor sighed. Maedhros groaned. He took it back. He wouldn't miss them at all. In fact, the sooner they were gone, the better.

...Oh, who was he fooling?


End file.
